[Air-L] Call for papers: Special issue of JCMC

[David M Silver]

Call for papers: Special issue of JCMC
for more info: http://faculty.washington.edu/thurlow/jcmc.html

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION
SPECIAL ISSUE ON
Young People, Mediated Discourse and Communication Technologies

CALL FOR PAPERS
Guest Editor:
Crispin Thurlow
University of Washington

IMPORTANT DATES
Abstracts due: July 1, 2008
Full papers due: November 1, 2008
Publication: April 2009

ISSUE FOCUS
After cybersex and e-commerce, perhaps the most widely discussed
CMC-related issue is so called 'cyberkids' and the 'net generation'.
Almost on a daily basis there are stories in the media addressing adult
concerns about young people's involvement with new communication
technologies like instant messaging, text messaging and social
networking sites. These popular representations are often speculative,
anecdotal and exaggerated. Young people are typically caught in a no-win
situation: on the one hand, they are depicted as being somehow naturally
predisposed and automatically 'wired' to new technologies; on the other
hand, they are viewed as being enslaved to technology, as either
arch-consumers or tragic victims.

CMC and new media scholars know well that generalizations about
technologically-mediated communicative practices are inherently
problematic, conflating as they do important differences in the
affordances and constraints of different technologies. By the same
token, the homogenizing rhetoric of 'net generation' and 'cyberkids'
conceals the diversity of young people's lives and their experiences
with communication technology. Most popular discourse also overlooks
those disadvantaged young people who cannot simply take the internet and
more recent technologies for granted.

This special issue of JCMC seeks to answer a simple question: what are
young people really doing with new communication technology? Papers are
sought which examine children and teenager's mediated discourse - in
other words, their actual language and communication practices. Papers
should therefore be empirically grounded, situated and contextual (e.g.
user- and use-specific). By no means exhaustive, papers might address
the following types of research questions:

    * how are young people reworking standard linguistic forms and
practices?
    * how do young people themselves talk about new technology and/or
its role in their lives?
    * how are new technologies seen to be supporting young people’s
interpersonal needs?
    * how are young people using technologies for artistic, political
and other creative purposes?
    * how are new communication technologies connecting different groups
of young people?

Papers reporting findings from diverse and under-represented social
backgrounds are especially welcome.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
Potential authors should submit a preliminary proposal of 500 to 750
words by June 1, 2008 to the guest editor Crispin Thurlow (thurlow @
u.washington.edu - please put "JCMC Special Issue" in the subject line).
Proposals should include the central research question, the theoretical
and/or empirical basis for the paper and preliminary findings,
interpretations or insights. Those interested in submitting a proposal
are also encouraged to contact the guest editor with their questions and
ideas.

Authors whose proposals are accepted will be invited (by August 1, 2008)
to submit for review a full paper of roughly 7,000-10,000 words by
September 1, 2008. The JCMC is an interdisciplinary journal and so
authors should plan for papers that will be accessible to
non-specialists and try to make their paper relevant to this audience.
Anticipated publication date for the issue is April 2009.

Final submissions should be emailed to the guest editor, Crispin Thurlow
at thurlow @ u.washington.edu. Again, please put "JCMC Special Issue" in
the subject line. The usual JCMC manuscript guidelines should be followed.

NOTE ABOUT "YOUNG PEOPLE"
There is no shortage of scholarly research on college-age people - a
convenient and often captive audience! As a consequence, it sometimes
feels as if we know more about this period of the lifespan than we do
about any others (Thurlow, 2005). In an attempt to redress this
imbalance and to give voice to a major new-media constituency, this
special issue will give priority to papers which make the experiences of
children and teenagers a central focus - in other words, young people
under the age of twenty (to use an otherwise arbitary cut-off point).
Papers which focus on young, colleage-age adults are encouraged to
situate their data/analysis with reference to the broader lifespan.

david silver
http://silverinsf.blogspot.com